It had been ten minutes since I started following the woman with violet hair.
She hadn't said anything except "follow me," so I did.
If this is how things are going to be, I guess they're never letting me out of here. I'll never find Nave.
The corridor we were walking through seemed endless. Its black brick walls, lit only by the dim glow of torches, stretched on into infinity. Every step echoed dully, as if the space around me were dead.
Suddenly, we entered a vast chamber.
I froze in place.
What is this?!
I stood motionless when I saw what was inside.
This is disgusting!
Humanoid figures—grotesque, deformed, utterly inhuman. Some were missing limbs, others had no nose or ears, and their skin came in unnatural shades—bluish, purple, sickly green. Their eyes, if they had any at all, were empty. Lifeless.
Do they really think I'm one of them?!
A knight walked over to me and started tying me to the wall next to those... creatures.
"Um… excuse me, but you're not planning to kill me, are you?" I asked, trying to sound neutral, even though I felt a growing disgust inside.
The knight tying me suddenly turned pale.
His eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"AAAH! Help! She speaks!" he screamed, falling to the ground and scrambling backward. "Lady Fidelia, are you sure she's possessed?!"
"No, I'm not," I replied calmly, rolling my eyes.
Fidelia—the woman I'd been following—stood with her arms crossed. Her gaze was piercing, but calm. She looked like she'd known from the start that something wasn't right.
"Hm. Come here for a moment," she said to the knight.
As they began talking, my eyes drifted to one of the possessed creatures beside me.
Despite everything going on, I didn't feel panicked. Maybe I just didn't care. Maybe I knew all of this was just one big misunderstanding.
They'll let me go, and bai lando.
"H-he… lp… me…" I heard a faint, raspy voice.
A possessed one that can speak? I admit, I was a little surprised.
I turned my head toward the creature.
That thing… was looking at me.
"I… I want to die…"
I stared at it with indifference.
"Hm?" I murmured.
"…L… Lytia…" it added.
My brain suddenly shut down.
What?!
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
"Who are you? How do you know my name?!" I asked sharply, raising my voice.
I don't remember telling anyone my name.
Suddenly, another knight appeared from the hallway, dressed similarly to Fidelia. He walked over to her, and they began speaking. The woman looked irritated, while he… was suspiciously cheerful.
Something about his posture told me he'd said something she really didn't like.
But that didn't matter.
Back to the main issue—what do I do now?!
Some deformed creature knows my name. I don't know what to think of it.
I looked at her again.
It was a girl. She had long, silver hair, so tangled you could barely see her face. Her clothing consisted of old, torn rags.
Suddenly, the second knight—the one who had just arrived—walked over to her.
He didn't hesitate for a second.
He grabbed the collar around her neck and violently dragged her into another room.
"F-finally… it's over…" she said softly, with a hint of relief.
She's… happy?
I didn't have time to properly think about it.
Does that mean… she's going to die now?
In the room she was thrown into, gas began to rise.
Not long after, my ears caught a scream.
A scream full of pain and suffering, loud and piercing.
A chill ran through my whole body.
Am I going to end up there too?
Fidelia walked up to me.
I was so terrified, eyes wide open, that I hadn't noticed when she got close.
"You should've reacted when they cuffed you. If I hadn't been here, you would've ended up like her."
My brain couldn't process what I had just witnessed.
"I-I…" I began, but couldn't finish.
Fidelia sighed heavily.
"Where did you get that wound on your neck?"
She pointed to the spot where the beast had attacked me.
With one free hand, I touched the wound. I felt it beneath my fingertips.
Only now did I understand why Nave had covered his that time.
Fidelia turned to the man in white.
"Clovis, you know what to do."
Clovis?
I looked at him.
He was the same knight who had spoken to her earlier.
He looked at me closely for a moment, then sighed and uncuffed me.
Finally—I'm free!
A moment later, we left the chamber full of the possessed.
Once again, I was walking through the same corridor as before.
"Do you know where your parents might be right now?" Clovis asked.
I stopped.
"What?"
"Do you remember where your family might be?" he repeated.
I didn't respond right away.
Family? I don't have one. And even if I did, it's none of his business.
"I don't have a family."
Clovis gave me a strange look.
I'm telling the truth, so what's his problem?
Eventually, we reached one of the checkpoints in the underground area. Clovis exchanged a few words with the guard, then looked back at me.
"Follow this man. He'll take you to the proper place in the capital."
Finally, that's what I'd been waiting for!
I followed the guard, excited at the thought that I would finally get to see the city.